So I’m looking into getting an evil following frame and then building the bike up, as there are some really good deals on components. I am wondering what fork to put on it. I have looked at the bikes that come as complete builds and they all seem to have 130mm forks but have noticed a few posts online referring to 140mm forks.

Has anyone who’s got an evil following help out? Or anyone that has built one give me any tips? I’ve never built a bike before so going in a bit blind…

Thanks

I built up a Following about 20 months ago. It was my first ever build too. I got the shop to fit the press fit BB, as I don‘t have press fit tools and wanted to minimise the possibility of a creaking BB rather than bodge it. After that did it myself including the Invisiframe. Most of the jobs I had done before to some degree when maintaining/upgrading earlier bikes. Before fitting each part I read through any instructions/magazine articles and watched any videos I could find on Youtube. There’s loads of stuff mostly from GMBN, MBR and Bike Radar. I also did the work steadily over 5 days rather than rush it in one go.

I went with a 130mm Pike RT3, with the recommended 51mm offset and 5 tokens. The drive train and brakes are XT M8000, reverb stealth, Race Face Next SL cockpit and I transferred a set of Roval Traverse Fattie carbon wheels from my old bike. If I was building the bike now I might be tempted by the new SRAM GX 12 speed drive train and SRAM Guide Ultimate brakes

I run the bike in the Low setting, which is plenty slack enough with the 130 fork and I have never been tempted to increase the travel. I considered a 140 fork when planning the build, but Evil only state geometries for 120 and 130 (even though saying 140 can be used) and I was a bit concerned about unbalancing the bike with 120 at the back and 140 at the front.

It’s an amazing bike and if you hunt around a bit on the interweb you can find shops discounting frames.

@snooze Can you link to some discounted frames? Ive looked as I’m after one but failing to find any at a decent price

Ta

Thanks snooze that’s great. One other question I have is I’m sure I read/watched someone that you need to have at least 150mm drop on the seat post because of the angle of it ? Might be completely wrong on that front. Chain reaction have a great deal on shimano xt 1×11 groupset inc brakes so I’m going to start with that and I think I will go with a 130mm pike rct3. Priced a complete build inc frame for under £4K atm.

The seat tube has a distinct kink in it to accommodate the 29 inch wheels while keeping the chain stays short, so the higher the saddle position is from the top of the seat tube, the more it is raked towards the back of the bike making your the effective seat tube angle slacker…..if you sketch it out you’ll see what I mean. So to keep the effective seat tube angle reasonably steep you don’t want to have too tall a dropper post. I’m just over 5’ 7’’, but I sized up to a Medium (Evil only recommend this size above 5’ 8’’) and I run a 125mm Reverb with about a 7mm gap between the bottom of the seat post collar and the top of the seat clamp and that works for me. I could have gone with the Small, but I would have ended up with less Reach in the frame and, although I would have been able to fit a longer/taller dropper post, a slacker effective seat tube angle. Pleased that I went with the Medium.

Re the chain stays, because they kept the chain stays short, there is not a lot of clearance around the rear tyre. I an running Schwalbe 2.35 tyres on the back, which admittedly come up big compared to other brands, but there’s not much clearance and I can only really get away with it because the areas I ride in don’t have much mud. You’d be fine with a Maxxis 2.3 on the back though in all but the muddiest/claggiest of places.

Not sure what frame size you want, but here’s a couple of links:-

http://www.blazingbikes.co.uk/evil-the-following-frame-gun%20metal%20satin-blazing-bikes&currency=GBP&language=en?gclid=COby8KORs9QCFTMW0wodXrYC-Q#.WTvSwoWcGAg

Medium shown as being in stock

http://www.blazingbikes.co.uk/evil-the-following-frame-deal-2016#.WTvQnoWcGAg

Only Orange in Medium shown as being in stock.

http://www.blazingbikes.co.uk/evil-following-2016-frame-green&currency=GBP&language=en?gclid=CPPiya6Qs9QCFU06GwodvQQJDQ#.WTvRy4WcGAg

L and XL shown as being in stock

https://www.evanscycles.com/evil-following-2016-mountain-bike-frame-EV269846?esvt=54356-GOUKE2187974&esvq=&esvadt=999999-0-1213006-1&esvcrea=183737382844&esvplace=&esvd=c&esvtg=aud-302411051660:pla-303783236393&esvo=EV269846-M-ORG&esvaid=50080&gclid=CKHnu-OPs9QCFQEA0wodME0C-w

Only Orange in Medium shown as being in stock.

Plus Evil Bikes Europe have a Sale on, but you need to add VAT and delivery and post election crap exchange to headline price

https://www.evil-bikes.com/

Cheers Snooze.

I knew id seen them discounted before but couldn’t remember where and it was Blazing bikes I was going to order from.

I stuck 120’s on my originally, as I just wanted a trail bike not some gnarr weapon, upped it to 130, as i felt it could easily take it. Though I slapped an angleset in it this year, Very happy with that amount of travel, but yes loads around with 140’s. More than I need but they reckon it suit it well. Though I’ve slapped an angleset on mine, now & love it in high position (pedals better), now it’s dried out I’ll change it back to the low

Hi
I have Fox 36 Talas on mine 135/150.
Have only had the travel at 150 twice for a couple of big descents but have it at 135 almost all of the time.
Running in high setting and it’s still plenty slack enough for me.
I’m 6ft and riding a large with 35mm stem and 800mm bars.
Running Hans Dampf 2.35 in mine and clearance so far has been ok
Fantastic bike
Cheers
Steve

I got one from Blazing bikes and was going to build it myself, but they offered a good deal on the components and built it up as part of the deal and also swapped the forks off my remedy, 140mm Fox Floats (51mm offset).

Originally I had it in the low setting which was a bit too slack for my normal riding but I changed it to the high setting and it feels great for everyday trail riding etc, anything super steep like some of the DH tracks around here and I swap it to low, so I have the option of really slacking it off. Although, if you don’t tend to ride steep stuff too often, then 130mm may be a better option.

What size are you after shasell?

We’ve sold dozens of Followings, in fact at one point were biggest dealer in the UK! Feel free to drop me a line… We also have a demo bike too.

I’ve emailed you mboy